


Faith

by casstayinmyass



Category: Ghost (Sweden Band)
Genre: Blood, Body Horror, Corpses, Dismemberment, Gen, Graphic Description of Corpses, Inspired by Frankenstein, Mad Science, Magic, Needles, Religion, Rituals, Stitching
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-29
Updated: 2020-10-29
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:01:39
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,741
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27270874
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/casstayinmyass/pseuds/casstayinmyass
Summary: An obsessed scientist creates a living being from body parts and raises it using occult magic, not realizing it has a cursed brain.
Comments: 5
Kudos: 12
Collections: Scary Stories To Tell In The Abbey





	Faith

**Author's Note:**

> For today's tale, ghouls and ghulehs, Kissy has stitched up a real scream for you. I hope you don't lose your minds as Copia did... but all in the pursuit of science and greatness, I suppose. He is, after all, all eyes and ears. 
> 
> I regret to tell you all that Possy has been caught by Sister Imperator and has been put on kitchen duty today for sneaking into Papa's bedroom after curfew, so it will only be me telling a tale today. (By the grace of Satan, I haven't been caught yet.) 
> 
> Grab your torches, and enjoy! Huahaha!
> 
> Please do not stick around for this tale if you are squeamish in any manner and do not *want* to be squicked out. I heard there's cider back in the Abbey!

_How do you do? Miss Kissy feels it would be a little unkind to present this picture without just a word of friendly warning: We are about to unfold the story of Copia, a man of dark faith who sought to create a man after his own image without reckoning upon Satan. It is one of the strangest tales ever told. It deals with the two great mysteries of creation; life and death. I think it will thrill you. It may shock you. It might even horrify you. So, if any of you feel that you do not care to subject your nerves to such a strain, now's your chance to eh... well. We warned you._

It was a dark and stormy night. The abandoned watchtower stood tall atop the hill, unchallenged by any other structures in the area. A ways down the path from the towering building stood an old cemetery in a valley, one that was currently occupied by a family. This family didn't seem to be grieving as one would expect; the older woman seemed quite apathetic in all honesty, and the fellow, though fretful, appeared aloof as well. After crossing themselves from the bottom up, the two made their exit, as the death knell solemnly tolled announcing the death of three.

Observing from beneath his white fedora, the man of faith whispered, "Those graves there. You see them, eh?" Copia's silent partner, whom he referred to as Mountain for his height, nodded his head once. "Those are the ones. Andiamo!” He clapped. “The night waits for no one!" Copia darted out from behind the old, cracked mausoleum where they had been hiding. Nothing in this pathetic cemetery was well built or expensive. Usually it was only farmers or workers buried here, or so Copia had observed the last six months he had been conducting his experiment here in this abandoned mountainous territory. These three didn't look like farmers or servants of any kind when they had been brought in. Perhaps, Copia rationalized, they were buried so remotely to cover up some sort of scandal.

No matter now. They were dead as doornails, and because of this, Copia had use for them.

"Look at them, ghoul," Copia smiled, lifting his hat. "Lying still, unsuspecting of the sacrilege that awaits them. Pah. They call it sacrilege, I call it faith. And faith will be mine." A bolt of lightning over the hills welcomed the rainfall, and Copia swore under his breath. "Come, ghoul."

For many years, Copia had been interested in death. What happened after death, and how one could go about bringing life back after death. His morbid curiosity lead him to the Church he now was a Cardinal in, one that celebrated dark and otherwise forbidden knowledge. In order to conduct this experiment of religious proportion, he had to have at least some knowledge of the biological sciences, however. Back in his schooling days, Copia was top of his class-- brilliant in his pursuits with unrivalled ambition. Chemical Calvinism and electro biology was what he spent his long nights reading of. The finishing touch was necromancy, learning about everything he needed to for this very night when his dreams of getting a taste of hell's power would be realized. He had experimented at first on rats, and when that had worked, he had been certain he could repeat the experiment on a larger specimen.

Copia stood over the first grave. The knell of the funeral bell faded over the hills as he got on his knees. Mountain stood behind him, setting the wheelbarrow down.

"Quickly," Copia whispered. He waited and kept watch as his strong and faithful assistant began digging up the plot.

Mountain wore a ghoulish silver mask to cover scars he had been born with, a gentle giant who had been born in the wake of misfortune. He successfully hit the bronze coffin box, and Copia hurried to his side. Once they had cracked the lid, a smile crept its way up Copia's face. The body below him was at rest, hands folded neatly over his chest. No sign of violence or gore, so he must have died cleanly. That was lucky. This one's face seemed peaceful, painted to look like a skull. Must have been a family tradition. Raven black hair fell around the sides of the dead man's face. There was a soft beauty to him that Copia took half a moment to admire. Mountain lifted him up and out, resting him in the wheelbarrow. He was rather light, of slender build and pliant limbs. Copia's heart hammered in excitement. If his brothers were like him, this would be the perfect experiment. The corpses they were unearthing had all been brothers in life: similar in likeness and DNA, therefore ideal for Copia's experiment. He would create life from death-- a creature so magnificent from parts mix and matched together.

Bats squeaked above them, and wind howled through the mountains. The masked assistant dug up the second brother with twice the speed, and was relieved to find that he was also of slender build. He was bald, seemed to be in a state of permanent unrest due to his frown lines, but that was a problem for life, not for death. The brother at the end of the line gave Copia a start when he was unearthed. His eyes were wide open, obviously left that way from neglect on the mortician's part, but unnerving nonetheless. Copia stared into the eye sockets, already beginning to erode behind the eyeballs encased inside. A spider crawled out of his robes. Copia hoped he would be fresh enough to match the others. Noises broke through the eerie night, alerting them of the presence of another.

"Ah, shit!" Copia hissed to his masked companion. "I hear someone coming with hounds!" Glowing lanterns swung in the distance, and Mountain climbed out of the grave to take the wheelbarrow.

Clouds shrouded the moon from the evil deed below it.

Dutifully, the ghoul pushed the bodies up the hill as Copia went ahead to the front door of the crumbling watchtower-- he unlocked the heavy piece of wood, got his precious material inside with Mountain, and barred the door.

"Come," he nodded, taking his gloves off with his teeth. "We have to get to the lab with them at once."

The first body of the eldest sat on the slab before Copia. The generator's lights dimmed with every flash of lightning, but all of the buzzing electricity in the room kept the place well lit. Copia stroked his mustache thoughtfully as he pondered over which tool to use. He needed to dismember these bodies, use the best parts from each to create the ideal man. No blood, no decay. Just a few stitches.

"The cleaver, si?" Mountain handed it to him, standing back from the work table.

He examined this corpse. Older, but strong boned. He could use this one's torso and arms, but not the hands. They were worn down by many years, with dirt under the fingernails. Copia needed the specimen clean.

"Nice, strong thighs," he commented with a soft chuckle. "Like me." He slapped his ass, but as usual, the ghoul didn't respond. Copia sighed, giving his ass a squish before turning back to his work. With scientific precision, Copia sliced at the thighs, using the same method to take the the head and hands off accordingly. Behind him, Mountain cleaned up the scraps of skin and chips of bone, mopping up any excess blood spilling down so it didn't stain the stone.

Copia brought the second body up onto the slab. This one was a bit younger than the first in terms of skin. Bald like the first, but smoother. He had nice legs. Copia made the mark, and cut carefully. An artery began to gush, but Mountain was prepared. He cleaned up the mess while Copia moved on to the other leg. Finally, the third and youngest. He remained so beautiful, even more noticeably so now under the fluorescent light. It was almost a shame to separate him from his body and disfigure that pretty neck, (a vampire’s wet dream, he mused) but Copia couldn't think of a better face for the creature.

Copia held the cleaver at this man's neck, and sliced down, sawing back and forth until he had successfully severed the spine and head. Some blood spurted up into his mustache and over his face. Messy, but Copia had the peroxide on hand to clean up any blemishes to the skin's integrity before the final procedure. Copia watched in interest as some white secretion, a sticky, smelly sort of fluid leaked from the neck and out of the mouth of the head. This one was freshest, at least. He could keep the eyes. Yes, they would do. All he needed was some good stitchwork— he never had that steady of a hand, but it didn't need to be perfect.

With the body parts of three brothers sitting before him, Copia began the procedure as the storm raged outside. Mountain stoked the fire, attempting to keep the huge lab of the watchtower warm. That was all forgotten when an hour later, well into the dead of the dark hours, Copia opened up the roof.

"One last test, hm?" he told his ghoul. "Attach the chords and light the black candles!" The chords were attached to the corpse's head, and Copia stroked the pale face of the creature he had created. Just as he was testing the frequency of the machine he had hooked the electricity up to, a bolt of lightning hit the metal chain, and travelled down to crackle into the body.

"No! It was not ready yet!" Copia shouted to the sky, and darted forward to remove the chords. With a curse, he realized in anguish that the lightning had burned the entire left half of his creation's beautiful face. "You see him, eh? Look at him! Now he will look like the monster he is!"

Copia hung his head, supporting his arms on the slab as all he worked to create began to crumble around him. Glancing under his arm, he got an idea. The discarded body parts of the other two lay in the wheelbarrow, to be disposed of in the incinerator. If this was to be an abomination against God, it may as well look the part.

Touching his hand to the marred face of his creation and delicately running his finger down the crisp, burned black layer, Copia observed what the electricity had done to it. Rotting purple capillaries under the skin melted away had been exposed, some old blood left in his face dripping down on the slab.

"Cloth, ghoul," Copia murmured. Mountain handed it to him, and Copia dabbed the blood away as if he was caring for his own child. In a way, he was giving birth to this creature by his hands. Giving it life, bringing it back into this world. Some may call it grotesque, but Copia maintained it was a miracle of science and faith.

The preserved brain was still intact inside the youngest brother's head at least. It hadn't been destroyed in the strike. Copia walked over, and picked up the beheaded cranium of the middle brother. His mouth hung open, providing Copia a look through it to the hole below that used to run into his esophagus. Something tingled inside Copia. Some sort of excitement. How close he was to harnessing the power no one thought possible!

He picked up the eldest brother's severed head as well, and placed them both on the table. Using a very small but extremely sharp surgical knife, he sliced into the skin, cutting away the muscles attaching it to the skull. When he had both faces off of the heads, he discarded both bald men again into the wheelbarrow of parts, and laid them out. The first's mouth had been skewed by soaking in the blood. Copia cut the bottom half of the face off. The second's could make up for it— his mouth and lips were in considerably good condition, and any noticeable defect could be easily hidden under that ceremonial skull paint of theirs. Mountain came to look, tilting his head. He glanced at Copia's arms, how his coat had been rolled up to his elbows to make way for the blood splattered up his forearms.

"It gets, eh..." Copia shrugged sheepishly with a cute laugh. "Messy." Mountain bowed his head, and Copia chuckled to himself as he got back to work.

Making quick work of it so as not to miss the storm, he threaded the hooked needle through the patchwork of faces, sewing them all up together. He then switched to stronger thread provided by Mountain, a metallic sort. He looped it through the third's head with the skin of the first's forehead, attaching the top left of the first's face only. The second provided him with the bottom left part of the face, and the third's right side was salvageable. Another lightning bolt illuminated his diabolical work, like encouragement from the devil himself to pursue this breakthrough in necromancy.

Once it was all finished, the man of faith pointed to the contraption and switch on the wall. Copia stroked the stitched face, wiping some crusted blood from one of the needle holes. "A body I made with my own hands. These hands right here! Ai, lift him up, ghoul!" Mountain turned the crank, and kept his hand on the switch. Once the abomination was atop the castle and open to the storming sky, Copia lifted his arms. "Satanas! Give me the blessing to breathe life back into these dead men! Give my creature what it was robbed of. Let me play your role in creation, questo mio bellissimo nuovo mostro!" He closed his eyes and cast his head down in prayer to below, letting the rain pound down over him from the opening above.

"Dominus. Da mihi in salutem tu creaturae," he whispered. "Ultima haec oblatio contumeliam Dei habebat notitiam poeseos iussoque ipsum. Post annos devotionis et fidei erunt, spiritus O Satanas!"

_(Master. Give my creation the life you take. Let this offering be the ultimate insult to god, for man had now usurped him in our quest for knowledge. After years of devotion, let faith be mine, spirit of Satanas!)_

The flames of the candles surged. The plunged out around them, and the fire began to crackle loudly, licking out and up over the stone mantle. Mountain flipped the switch, changing the charge of the metal surrounding the creature. Copia kissed the grucifix that hung around his neck, and another bolt of lightning hit the slab above-- this time, Copia could see the green glow surround the corpse.

The table was rolled slowly down. Mountain walked over to stand behind Copia, and the man of faith watched eagerly. Nothing happened for a few passing moments, until the creature's finger twitched. The twitch of the finger soon became a movement of the hand, and Copia felt his knees buckle. Mountain caught him, as Copia let out a breath of vindication.

"It's alive," Copia whispered. "You see this, ghoul? It is alive. It's alive, praise Satanas, it's alive!" He clutched at his chest manically, fingering his grucifix. "Faith is mine. FAITH IS MINE!" He let out a deep, evil laugh that filled the watchtower, and another bolt cracked down outside as the fire raged. Copia turned back to his creation, and put a reassuring hand on its arm. "Rise. Per favore... I am your Papa now. You have only just met me, but I will teach you. Now rise for Papa." Its eyes blinked open, mouth cracking apart to let out a groan. The creature stood slowly, took its first step. Mountain backed away as the fire only raged brighter. The candles began to shake, and Copia watched as the creation's hands twitched, almost causing them all to tip. Copia shielded his eyes as the table caught on fire. The creature seemed to walk through it, unfazed.

When it turned to face Copia with its horrifying visage and murderous intent blazing in its white eye, a sense of dread filled him. Perhaps he had cheated life by making one man out of three, and summoned the greatest power of all. He quickly realized in doing so, he had created a monster. 

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed Frankenpapa! It most certainly is alive! AHHH! 
> 
> If you'll excuse me, I have to go stitch- I mean, switch- my blankets. These ones are threadbare from too much clutching! Catch you tomorrow!


End file.
